While a lot of countries are keeping schools closed until September due to the coronavirus, the U.S. has decided to open them back up and had schools start on August 3rd 2020.
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Since opening, some schools closed back down in a matter of days. For a high school in Indiana opened early on July 30th and ended up closing by August 1st after a staff member tested positive for the virus and all other staff members had to quarantine.
Recently, a photo of a packed high school hallway with barely any students wearing masks has gone viral on Twitter. The student who initially wanted to share information about how schools rushed to open up and have set in place no regulations to protect staff or students from contracting the virus.
This is the first day of school in Paulding County, Georgia. pic.twitter.com/fzdidaAABM
— 🇯🇲Black🇭🇹Aziz🇳🇬aNANsi🇹🇹 (@Freeyourmindkid) August 4, 2020
This is, in part due to the fact that Trump's federal government did not make the guidelines set out by the CDC mandatory in school and as a result schools are reopening like it's 'business as usual'. The student who posted the video told Buzzfeed news that they ended up receiving an out of school suspension due to the sharing of these images along with this caption:
Day two at North Paulding High School. It is just as bad. We were stopped because it was jammed. We are close enough to the point where I got pushed multiple go to second block. This is not ok. Not to mention the 10% mask rate.
The same student, Hannah Watters even took a tally of students who wore masks and who didn't in each of her respective classes. The numbers were shocking, to say the least.
This particular school district has decided not to make wearing a mask necessary, stating that it is a 'personal choice'. Even though the CDC strongly advocated their use.
Hannah was suspended for 5-days due to the sharing of the photos, to which the school cited she violated the school's code of conduct which schools, however, some parents as well lawyers are calling this suspension excessive. Michael Tafelski a supervising attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s children’s rights project is calling for the suspensions of these students to be reversed immediately and not go on their records, he stated:
Children do not waive their constitutional rights in school, and the district abused its discretion in suspending these students, it could not have come at a worse time as families are struggling to cope with the social and economic pressures brought on by the pandemic, including the abrupt school closures in March that disrupted the education of thousands of students.
